In 2014, the Seattle City Council adopted its most recent Bicycle Master Plan. The plan prioritizes street improvements to make the city safe and comfortable enough so every household in the city has an "all ages and abilities" bikeway within a quarter-mile of their house and ridership quadruples by the year 2030.

Both the Bicycle Master Plan and the 2015 Move Seattle Levy call for the prioritized bikeways would be implemented during other major corridor improvement projects, including paving, bus, and freight corridor projects. This only makes sense as it ensures that multiple priorities for corridors are coordinated, that the same streets aren't constantly being redesigned and reconfigured, that the city is using its money and time most efficiently.

For the Green Lake and Wallingford neighborhoods, the City of Seattle's current plan for repaving and improving Green Lake Ways/Drives and for NE 40th Street includes the priorities set out in the Bicycle Master Plan. Protected bike lanes will be added to the Green Lake Ways/Drives and Stone Way, and NE 40th Street will receive minor bikeway improvements of uphill protected bike lanes and downhill marked sharrows.

Currently NE 50th Street is the only street that wouldn't be upgraded to the standards set out in the Bicycle Master Plan, which calls for protected bike lanes from Phinney Avenue N to Green Lake Way N. This is a missed opportunity.

With a minor modification of the traffic signal the intersection of Green Lake Way N, Stone Way N, and N 50th Street, a two-way protected bike lane could be added to the north side of N 50th Street along Woodland Park from Fremont Avenue N to Green lake Way N. We encourage the City to make this happen.